Edited for December Moonlight by Carolyn Howard
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Construction Quality of Tone Origin
The basset horn is the tenor clarinet and therefore belongs to the family of woodwind single-reed instruments.
It is composed of a cylindrical tube of wood with a cylindrical bore ending in a bell, larger than that of the clarinet; it is played through a beak-shaped mouthpiece containing a single reed. The basset horn has usually an angular bend in the middle or it doubles upon itself like the bassoon, but with a larger bell, or the bell is turned upward in the contrary direction to the bend of the tube near the mouthpiece, like the bass clarinet.
The quality of tone is extremely reedy and rich in the low register, which is the most useful for orchestral purposes. It is especially effective in mournful music.
The basset horn was invented by Horn of Passau in 1770, hence its name, which has nothing to do with the horn itself. In French the name has been translated into cor, while bassette is a diminutive of bass. The predecessor and prototypes of the basset horn are respectively the pommers and the shalmeys, as of the clarinet.
Source: Hofmann, Richard. "Modern Instruments" Modern Music and Musicians. Ed. Louis C. Elson. The University Society, Inc.: New York, 1918. 209-210.
The above information is useful for today's musician. This book is in the Public Domain.